The problem with automation isn’t technology. The problem is capitalism. // [ Deflationary pressure, 3bn people in developing world and frontier markets unemployed, waiting to join workforce. ] [ who buys the gadgets and widgets when half the world is unemployed ] // This time, as Martin Ford argues in Rise of The Robots, education and upscaling won’t help us. There will simply be fewer jobs to go around, as everything from accountancy to journalism will be done faster, cheaper and more efficiently by machines. The result, as Jerry Kaplan agrees in Humans Need Not Apply, is that billions will be left destitute – unless we radically rethink our way of keeping people fed.

Silicon Valley should be celebrated. But its insularity risks a backlash [...] Critics are often from industries wanting to protect their privileges; the geeks’ aggressive behaviour is sometimes part of the creative destruction that leads to progress. But that is not the only source of anger. Silicon Valley also dominates markets, sucks out the value contained in personal data, and erects business models that make money partly by avoiding taxes. There is a risk that global consumers will feel exploited and that the effects of a shrinking tax base will infuriate voters. If the perception takes root that enormous profits from exploiting data and avoiding taxes are crystallised in the fortunes of a few people living on a patch of ground near San Francisco, then there will be a backlash." // recent emergence of marketplace for X and gig platform for X - 1099 Economy etc etc, making money with our data - Facebook.